Norton Commando E/S 850 1975 disc brakes improvements ???

The Madass brake gives you non fade 1 finger braking. I could not ride hard enough to make it fade in the mountains.
On the same road the stock brake overheated and failed completely. MC changes won't stop the tiny pad area of the stock brake from overheating, nor will pad changes, in my experience.

If you ride gently then the stock brake with just a Master cylinder upgrade, sleeve or replace, could get the job done.
If you like to ride a little faster and happen to ride on challenging roads then a better front brake is needed.

The stock rear brake is perfect as is. I wouldn't want an extremely powerful brake on the rear.
The stock rear brake is plenty strong when called on, which isn't often and never intense as I don't want a locked up rear wheel when approaching a corner or in a corner.

Glen

worntorn said:

The Madass brake gives you non fade 1 finger braking. I could not ride hard enough to make it fade in the mountains.
On the same road the stock brake overheated and failed completely. MC changes won't stop the tiny pad area of the stock brake from overheating, nor will pad changes, in my experience.

If you ride gently then the stock brake with just a Master cylinder upgrade, sleeve or replace, could get the job done.
If you like to ride a little faster and happen to ride on challenging roads then a better front brake is needed.

The stock rear brake is perfect as is. I wouldn't want an extremely powerful brake on the rear.
The stock rear brake is plenty strong when called on, which isn't often and never intense as I don't want a locked up rear wheel when approaching a corner or in a corner.

Glen

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I agree about the rear disc brake. It works very well and not too much, which is what is needed. ( I even copied the leverage ratio for my custom rear disc with different caliper and master cylinder on my custom Norton.)

12.5mm Brembo master cylinder on the front, a rebuilt caliper, new pads, and a stainless steel brake line is the best budget upgrade you can do. Rear needs a new master cylinder as well and has the same issues.

Here's what works for me. Although it is a MkII with a Mk3 swingarm and hub, I have done the same on a Mk3 that I sold to a fellow in England. The front is a homemade copy of the CNW brake. A single pin Brembo 3034 caliper, homemade adaptor, '96 Kawasaki ZX6R rotor (EBC brand) re-drilled for the Norton pattern and a custom made adapter to fit the inside diameter to the Norton hub and cover the original stud holes. I mated it to a 13mm Andover master cylinder because I chose to keep the original switch gear, but a Brembo or Magura cylinder would also work. I sourced the stainless brake lines and fittings from Dennis Kirk.
The rear setup is from a mid-90's Ducati 900 CR (not an SP). The caliper, rotor, caliper mount and master cylinder are all from the Ducati (Brembo). The caliper mount needed reaming for the Norton axle and a small amount milled off the face for proper pad to rotor clearance. Again a rotor adaptor was made from 1/4 inch aluminum sheet. Since this is a MkII I made a mount with a bell crank to cable operate the master cylinder and mounted it on the left side behind the battery box. On the Mk3, I made a simple adapter to mount the Brembo master to the right side footpeg mount as the original.
The brake works very well, but the biggest advantage is loss of several pounds of unsprung weight.
The front brake is the biggest improvement, even the stock rear drum will work as the front brake does the majority of the work.

I put a brembo caliper on the Atlas. If you look up DUCATI BREMBO FRONT CALIPER on ebay you can find a used pair for $100 free shipping. Most of these available are left handers. In the $100 dollar range you can get two used ones.
This will give you the option for right and left. Then you can sell the other one probably to forum members. Matt can sell you the brake line and adaptor fitting. If you don't want the right hander I'll buy it for $50. I made my own bracket out of 3/8 alu plate.

I found much improvement after adding full floating Girling rotors front and rear on my MK III. About $200.00 each USD.

The front master cyl had been sleeved by the PO with stainless lines. Still, attempting to stop was frightening. When removing stock chrome rotors I found the Ferodo pads were smooth as glass!

I had to lightly chamfer the stock calipers and new Ferodo pads for bobbin clearance using a die grinder, as per included drawings from the new Girling rotors. What a difference! As a casual rider, I am now perfectly happy with braking.